The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-04-23
SHOrLIFTERS IN PARIS.
Many Of Them Pay Well for the Privilege
OF Trying their Hands Mt Stealing.

Many Of Them Pay Well for the Privilege
OF Trying their Hands ut Stealing.
The establishment In Paris of the gi-
gantic bazars known as the Bon Marche,
the Louvre, the Pygmalion, the Prin-
temps, and the like, has given rise to a
new form of crime in the shape OF con-
tinual petty thefts, often committed by
persons whose state OF fortune and social
position not only elevate them above
want, but above suspicion. On the great
opening days especially, when every de-
partmcnt is crowded with customers and
every counter is loaded with tempting
articles, the apparent ease and immunity
with which theft can be effected, Joined
to the attractivcness of the goods, arc
sure 10 lure numbers of women (for. these
thefts are rarely committed by men) into
surreptitiously appropriating various ar
ticlcs. The average of these cases of
theft is $50 day. The criminal is never
arrested in the act; that would create
confusion and cause scandal. A detect
i've in plain clothes follows her to the
door, and when she is about to quit the
shop requests her politely to step with
him into back room. There she is
searched, and the stolen articles arc taken
from her. If it is first oiTcnse, she is
dismissed with a rcprimand.
"= When detected in a second theft the
offender is conducted before the admin
istrativc council Of the house, her name
and address are demanded, and her abode
is searched through the medium of n
permit which she is required to give.
Usually large quantity of merchandise,
for whose presence she is unable to ac-
count, is found in her rooms. The un-
used articles are taken away, and
she is obliged to furnish written
promise of payment to the shop. She is
besides compelled to pay fine, varying
according to her means and her social
position from 81 to $4,000, for the benefit
Of the poor of the quarter. There are,
in fact, certain privileged quarters in
Paris where there are,no poor people, so
amply are the needs of the INDECENT
provided for from this source. Should
the thief prove contumacious, and
refuse to give her name and adj
dress, she is handed over to the
police, and is prosecuted in ordinary
fashion. Among these shop thieves are
numbered ladies of the highest rank, the
wives of foreign ambassadors, &c: Some
of these women are undoubtedly the VIC
tins of klcptomania. One of them, an
immensely rich old countess, is so well
known that when she enters one OF the
great shops all the watchers" are on the
alert. They are sure to catch her
sooner or later in the act of helping
herself to some trilling object, such us n
pair of gloves, a box of writing paper, u
pockctbook, or 4 bow of ribbon. She Is
then politely requested to 20 before the
administrative council, and for each Of
Tense is fined 800, which she pays
down at once, without protestation or
without murmur. @a
Among the poorer thieves the most
frequent offenders are governesses out
of work, and their thcfts are almost in
variably of gloves. 1t is almost indis-
pcnsablc for them to appear well gloved
when they so in search Of situation.
They cannot afford the expense, and so
they yield to temptation. The excuse of
actual want is very rare, Very seldom
are useful garments stolen, even for
children. Ribbons, gloves, knicknacks,
fans, ornaments, &c, are the objects
that are usually taken.
at the approach OF the holiday season
thieves fairly swarm in the large stores
In single one there were lOj arrested last
Christmas Eve. Not one of the throng
was prosecuted There was only one